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Media companies are continuing to push the boundaries of how AI can be incorporated into journalism.
Last week, Fortune told staff that it would be amping up its AI-produced content. According to an internal memo shared with Semafor, the company said it’s bringing back former editor Nick Lichtenberg to “test ways to use AI to deliver breaking news faster” with a new section called Fortune Intelligence — essentially, stories co-written with chatbots, though the memo repeatedly stressed that “human oversight is required at every stage before publication.”
The goal, the memo said, is to get Fortune closer to being a “site of record” and a daily habit for readers. Staff will also use AI to generate graphics, and to turn one of the newsletters into a podcast. “We intend to surf this wave, not get pummeled by it,” EIC Alyson Shontell wrote.
Axios is also loosening its prohibition on AI-written stories. New internal editorial guidelines first shared with Semafor showed that the digital publisher is relaxing its old policy, which had required all content to “be written or produced by a real person with a real identity.”
“That was written years ago and was unnecessarily limiting as we’ve learned more about what AI tools can and can’t do,” the new guidance said.
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AI tools have excited the top ranks of many media companies, where executives believe it can make the process of journalism — which is often slow and cumbersome — more efficient. In her email to staff, Shontell said that AI could level the playing field for Fortune, which is smaller than many of the media companies it competes with.
Many media employees, however, see AI as a quality control hazard and a threat to their jobs — if not today, then in the future as the technology improves. Staff employee unions at outlets including The New York Times and Politico have raised concerns about whether recent deals with AI companies violate employee contracts about AI use.